Call for Research Papers
Digital libraries are essential guardians of global knowledge and culture, preserving humanity’s collective memory and fueling innovative research, learning, and discovery. In an era of unprecedented data growth and transformative AI, JCDL continues to be the premier international forum for the multidisciplinary community of researchers and practitioners in digital libraries and allied fields.
To support broad international participation while fostering live interaction, JCDL 2026 will be held as a hybrid event, combining in-person attendance with virtual participation. Authors of accepted papers will be expected to present their work during scheduled sessions.
We invite original research that advances the state-of-the-art in managing, accessing, analyzing, and curating digital collections. JCDL 2026 welcomes contributions across computer science, information science, library science, social science, and cultural heritage domains. We particularly encourage submissions that leverage cutting-edge approaches, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing, large language models, data science, knowledge graphs, generative models, recommendation systems, and information retrieval.
Important Dates
All deadlines are Anywhere on Earth (AoE) time.
| Full paper and short paper submissions | June 30, 2026 |
| Notifications to authors | August 20, 2026 |
| Camera ready | September 10, 2026 |
Topics of Interest
JCDL 2026 topics include, but are not limited to:
Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, and Analytics for Digital Libraries
- Machine learning and deep learning methods for digital libraries
- Large language models, generative AI, agent-based systems, and foundation models in information access
- Data mining, data analytics, and visualization of library collections
- Knowledge graphs, semantic web, ontologies, and graph-based knowledge representation
- Natural language processing, information extraction, and semantic search
- Predictive analytics, neural retrieval, and data-driven innovation
Search, Retrieval, and Recommendation Systems
- Information retrieval, indexing, and ranking for large-scale digital collections
- Personalized search, user modeling, and recommender systems
- Semantic search, question answering, and conversational interfaces
- Navigational and exploratory search, interactive retrieval, query understanding, and multimodal retrieval (text, images, audio, video)
- Knowledge discovery, entity-centric retrieval, and cross-lingual retrieval
Human Interaction, Communities, and Collaboration
- User experience (UX) design, usability, and accessibility in digital library systems
- Collaborative and social information environments, including crowdsourcing and citizen science
- Social networks, social tagging, folksonomies, and community curation of content
- Human-centered design, interactive visualization, and user behavior analysis
- Community building, scholarly communication, and engagement with digital content
Content, Collections, and Digital Humanities
- Digitization, transcription, and analysis of cultural heritage and multimedia collections
- Digital humanities methods, computational social science, and arts-based informatics
- Metadata standards, linked data, semantic annotation, and interoperability in digital collections
- Document genres, scholarly content management, and digital exhibits
- Multilingual and multicultural digital libraries; inclusion of diverse voices and resources
- Domain-specific applications of digital libraries
Infrastructure, Preservation, and Data Management
- Digital preservation, long-term archiving, and sustainability of digital collections
- Data curation, stewardship, and repository infrastructure
- Linked open data, metadata integration, and semantic interoperability
- Cloud computing, distributed architectures, and scalable library systems
- Open science, open data initiatives, and reproducibility of digital library research
Policy, Ethics, and Societal Impact
- Intellectual property, copyright, and licensing issues in digital collections
- Privacy, security, and trust in digital library systems and AI applications
- Ethics of AI, algorithmic fairness, bias, and accountability in information access
- Accessibility, inclusion, and equitable access to knowledge for diverse communities
- Social, cultural, and legal implications of digital preservation and access
Paper Submission Categories and Formats
JCDL 2026 invites high-quality submissions in the following categories:
- Full Research Papers (up to 10 pages, excluding references): Mature, well-developed work with significant contributions to digital library research and practice.
- Short Research Papers (up to 4 pages, excluding references): Early-stage research, novel ideas, smaller studies, or concise contributions valuable to the community.
All submissions must be original works, not previously published or under review for publication elsewhere, written in English, submitted in PDF format, and prepared in the current ACM two-column conference format. Suitable LaTeX, Word, and Overleaf templates are available from the ACM Website: ACM Proceedings Template. Authors using LaTeX should use the sigconf proceedings template, while Word authors should use the Interim Template. Complete papers are required; submissions consisting solely of an abstract or otherwise incomplete submissions will not be reviewed. References do not count toward the page limit.
Submission Guidelines
Originality
Submissions must report original work that has not been previously published and is not under concurrent review elsewhere.
Double-Blind Review and Anonymity Guidelines
JCDL 2026 uses a double-blind peer-review process. Submissions must be anonymous and must not include any identifying information such as author names, affiliations, acknowledgments, project URLs that reveal identity, or non-anonymized references to prior work. All references to authors’ own prior work must be anonymized where appropriate.
Authors are encouraged to use anonymous hosting platforms such as anonymous.4open.science to share code, data, and other supporting materials. Anonymized works that are available as preprints (e.g., on arXiv or SSRN) may be submitted without citing them. Reviewers will be instructed not to actively look for such preprints, and finding such a preprint does not conflict with the submission policy.
Manuscript Content
Submissions should clearly articulate their contributions and situate them within relevant literature. Empirical papers must include appropriate evaluation; theoretical papers should include clear reasoning or formal analysis. Submissions involving human participants must comply with the conference ethics and publication policy requirements.
Reproducibility Guidelines
Reproducibility will be considered during review. Authors should provide sufficient detail to verify results, including anonymized source code, datasets (when permissible), and a clear description of the experimental setup. Authors are encouraged to include a brief reproducibility statement.
Proceedings and Presentation
All accepted papers will be included in the conference proceedings and will be presented at the conference.
- Each accepted paper must be covered by a distinct conference registration by the deadline.
- At least one author of each accepted paper must present the work live during the scheduled conference session.
- Authors must submit a pre-recorded video presentation for asynchronous viewing.
Awards
Outstanding contributions will be considered for the Best Paper Awards, announced during the closing session of the conference.
Policies
ACM Publications Policy
By submitting an article to this conference, authors acknowledge that they and their co-authors are subject to all applicable ACM Publications Policies, including ACM’s Publications Policy on Research Involving Human Participants and Subjects. Alleged violations of ACM publication policies may be investigated and may result in rejection, retraction, or other penalties as appropriate.
Generative AI Policy
Authors must comply with all applicable conference and publisher policies regarding the use of generative AI tools. Any use of AI-generated content or AI-assisted writing should be disclosed in accordance with the final publication requirements of the venue.
Authorship Policy
JCDL 2026 follows the ACM Authorship Policy. Every listed author must have made a substantial contribution. The complete author list must be finalized by the submission deadline; no additions, removals, or reordering will be allowed after submission except under extraordinary circumstances and with explicit approval.
Desk Rejection Policy
Submissions failing to adhere to anonymity, length, formatting, or academic integrity requirements may be desk-rejected. This includes plagiarism, author misrepresentation, falsification, and other serious policy violations. See the ACM Policy on Plagiarism, Misrepresentation, and Falsification.
ORCID Requirement
Please ensure that all authors obtain an ORCID ID so the publishing process can be completed for accepted papers. For background, see ACM’s ORCID FAQs.
Ethics and Conduct
Research Ethics
Authors must comply with the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. Submissions involving human participants must include a statement on ethics approval (e.g., IRB), informed consent, and relevant safeguards where applicable.
Conflict of Interest
All authors, reviewers, and committee members must adhere to the ACM Conflict of Interest Policy. Conflicts must be declared during submission and review.
Harassment Policy
All participants must adhere to the ACM Policy Against Harassment.